Tag Archive: agriculture

The last months of 2015 brought genetic engineering back to the front pages with several major news stories, particularly the FDA’s approval of genetically engineered salmon and breakthroughs in the use of Crispr-Cas9 (a gene-editing technology). Often when I talk to people about my research, they want to know if GMOs are safe to eat, but the debate over GMOs – and genetic engineering more broadly – is much bigger than questions of scientific risk assessment and management. These two recent stories highlight how much the debate focuses on questions of ethics too. I’ve talked a little about Crispr before, so let’s turn to genetically engineered (GE) salmon. Scientists have been working on GE salmon for over two decades, however…

Last month, Walmart announced “its commitment to create a more sustainable food system.” As The New York Times noted in its report on the announcement, Walmart is “the United States’ largest grocer, and food is its biggest business. So it has enormous clout with food producers and food processing companies…” As a major player, if Walmart succeeds in its “four pillar” initiatives, its efforts can have a significant impact on how food is produced and sold in the US. The four pillars (affordable, accessible, healthier, safe & transparent) touch upon the main aspects of our food system, namely consumer rights, food safety, and public health issues. This kind of initiative highlights how big corporations can create standards that exceed the…

A June 18th article in The New York Times, “Maine Court Fight Pits Farmers Against State and One Another,” reveals some of the challenges of regulating local food production and sales. In brief, Jess Bidgood looks at Dan Brown’s efforts to sell unpasteurized milk at his farm stand in Maine. After a few years of selling the milk, along with some other items, state regulators told Brown he must stop because he didn’t have a distributor’s license and he wasn’t using proper labeling. Bidgood writes that “The case has pitted the state against some small-scale farmers and stirred a feud between new homesteaders and longtime family farmers.” The case also provides a good example of the push-and-pull between the different…